


Hell Is Murky

by foxboxtango



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Gen, a year of so after Reichenbach I guess, and death, based off a quote from 'Macbeth', fewer than 500 words, no bearing on season three whatsoever, really short, sherlock hasn't even made it back yet, some description of gore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-11
Updated: 2014-01-11
Packaged: 2018-01-08 08:34:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1130509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foxboxtango/pseuds/foxboxtango
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hell is murky.  Sherlock, John, Mrs Hudson, Molly, and Jim all see it in different aspects of their lives.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hell Is Murky

**Hell Is Murky**

 

Hell is murky.

Sherlock sees it in the basin, washing the blood and dirt and violence off his skin, again and again.  Waiting for the chance to go home, to leave Hell, to be the miracle that was asked of him ( _don’t…be…dead_ ).  He sees it in the black of his eyes and the dark of his soul.

Hell, he discovers when he meets Moriarty there, is far worse than he imagined.

Hell is murky.

John sees it in the bags under his eyes, the hollows in his cheeks.  He was ripped from Heaven suddenly, and that abrupt loss ( _you were…the most human, human being_ ) shakes him to the core, more than any wound he has felt before.

John thought he knew Hell, knew it intimately when he was lying under the clear sky, writhing in the hot sand with a bullet in his shoulder and his friend’s blood up his arms.  That was nothing, compared to this.

Hell is murky.

Mrs Hudson sees it in the empty life, the half of a whole that cannot function without its counterpart.  She sees it in the blank stares and the dazed walks, the full cups of tea and the dreadful silence.  She sees it in the old cane, dusted off and used again.

She had never much imagined Hell, except perhaps to revel in her late husband’s discomfort.  She thinks she knows what it looks like, now.

Hell is murky.

Molly sees it in the secret she is forced to bear, the three words she cannot say ( _he is alive_ ).  She watches it in him, in both of them, and they both look sad now that they cannot see each other.

She has unwillingly created Hell for two people, and now lives in her own.

Hell is murky.

Jim Moriarty ( _hiii_ ) sees it in the face of his rival, meets it in the form of Sherlock Holmes.  He remembers the words ( _I will burn the HEART out of you_ ) and thinks they were apt.

His Hell greets him with open arms and a bullet in his brain, saying “this is all there is for you, no special treatment, look how far you’ve fallen”.

Hell is murky.

**Author's Note:**

> So last year I had to study 'Macbeth' in school, and I came across a quote that didn't seem to be used that much, and certainly no one in my class had mentioned it (although I'm sure there are peeps somewhere out on the internet that have discussed it in length). Anyway, the quote really stuck with me, because Lady Macbeth says it in one of her last scenes, and her entire character is somewhat fascinating to dissect, especially from a psychological standpoint. I think I wrote this close to midnight one night, all in one go, and then decided to publish it months and months after the fact. So here you are.
> 
> (As stated in the tags, this has absolutely no connection to season three, and is set after The Reichenbach Fall, but before Sherlock makes it home)
> 
> As always, don't own any of the characters or previously established ideas/events.


End file.
